The May 9 military parade was to have been an event of pure pomp and spectacle: a moment for Vladimir Putin to stand in the centre of Moscow’s Red Square and bask in his unchallenged authority. Flanked on either side by his Chinese and French counterparts, Xi Jinping and Emmanuel Macron, the Russian president would have watched proudly as Russian soldiers marched past in the spring sunshine, their arms locked in salute and their faces turned to their commander-in-chief. Instead, Mr Putin will lay flowers at a war memorial in the centre of an otherwise deserted Moscow, and make a video address to a quarantined, concerned and increasingly restless nation.
The postponed parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s role in the second world war victory over Nazi Germany was envisaged as the most public event of a heavily-orchestrated spring schedule designed to cement the longevity of Mr Putin’s 20- year reign. Mr Xi would have shown the world the strength of Russia’s new friendship with the world’s pre-eminent rising superpower; Mr Macron’s attendance would have demonstrated that despite sanctions against Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Crimea, Europe still needs its troublesome eastern partner.
The parade of tanks, missile launchers and soldiers was intended to be much more than just a historical commemoration. It was scheduled 17 days after a national ballot where Mr Putin had banked on winning widespread public support for constitutional changes that would allow him to extend his rule beyond 2024. That vote, too, has been postponed.